State law requires local election boards to certify election results, a Fulton County Superior Court Judge ruled Tuesday.
Judge Robert McBurney rejected the assertions of Julie Adams, a member of the Fulton County elections board, who refused to certify primary results earlier this year and maintained she had the legal authority to do so.
“Some things an election superintendent must do either in a certain way or by a certain time, with no discretion to do otherwise,” McBurney wrote in an 11-page decision. “Certification is one of those things.”
Tuesday’s ruling was limited to the lawsuit Adams brought in Fulton County. Still pending is a legal challenge to a change in election rules the Republican-controlled State Election Board adopted in August allowing local election officials to delay certifying results in order to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” if they suspect voter fraud.
“While the superintendent must investigate concerns about miscounts and must report those concerns to a prosecutor if they persist after she investigates, the existence of those concerns, those doubts, or those worries is not cause to delay or decline certification,” the judge wrote. “This is simply not an option.”
The “reasonable inquiry” rule is among a series of election rules the State Election Board has approved along party lines in the last two months.
The list includes a rule that allows county election board members to delay certification of results while they examine “all election-related documentation created during the conduct of elections.” Another requires counties to hand-count the number of ballots cast at polling places on Election Day.
Supporters of the rules changes say they’re being done in the name of promoting election integrity after allegations of fraud were leveled in Georgia after Democrat Joe Biden carried the Peach State over then-incumbent Republican President Donald Trump in 2020. A series of court challenges found no widespread fraud occurred.
Opponents of the new rules say they’re part of a concerted effort by Republicans in Georgia to sow chaos and confusion in this year’s election, potentially delaying the results and helping Trump secure the state’s 16 electoral votes even if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the popular vote.
